By Anderson Ojwang
When Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua thought, he had laid all the traps in every corner of the State House to snare the dreaded political nightmare from accessing the State House, but he was deadly wrong.
And like the traps, he had informers and spies to notify him immediately, should former Prime Minister Raila Odinga be sighted within the precinct of the State House, and that became his nightmare and Waterloo.
The move by Rigathi was meant to protect President William Ruto from being accessed and influenced negatively by Raila.
Again, it was our time to eat after a successful hunting expedition and a moment to share the spoil of the ‘catch.’
It was the time for shareholders of the steak to eat while others watched from a distance.
Rigathi traversed the Mountain preaching about the shareholders and how he had laid traps and placed informers in State House to ensure Raila did not gain access.
‘My work is to keep the President safe from Raila Odinga. He has destroyed successive governments, and I cannot allow him to destroy ours. That is why I have laid traps everywhere and have spies all allover to inform me,” he said.
Alas, Raila, an old hand in the political dynamics of the country soon found himself dining with the King at the high table while the self-confessed Truthful man was displaced to the periphery.
Currently, the bromance between President Ruto and Raila is so telling. as the former leads the campaign for the latter for the seat of African Union (AU) chair.
The trap maker, Rigath today finds himself in unfamiliar turf, he is the hunter turned the hunted, the trapper who became trapped by his own trap and is today staring at his own impeachment.
Rigathi, the trapper consequently became the trapped and first victim of his own mechanizations after he was removed from the State House WhatsApp group.
In a recent Interview by Citizen TV, Rigathi claimed that Ruto’s private secretary Reuben Miayo expelled his team from the President’s diary a week ago hence he has been nescient and cannot grace functions of the head of State.
“About a week ago, we were removed from that diary so we were not able to follow what was going on and so we cannot align. When I am aware of where the President is, I am always there. When I am not aware, there is nothing I can do about it,” Rigathi said.
“There is mischief to remove me from the Presidential diary so that once I do not attend Presidential events, it can be purported that I am absconding duty. I hear that was one of the grounds for impeachment. Sometimes they want me to appear late so that it can appear I am disrespectful,” he said.
Rigathi appealed to President Ruto and the people responsible to include his team in the President’s diary, underscoring his position as the second-in-command so that he could fulfill his mandate to the people.
“I am the DP elected by the people and I am the principal assistant of the President. It is only right and fair that I have access to the presidential diary so that I align his diary with my diary because he is the boss,” he said.
But the leader of the Majority in the National Assembly dismissed Rigathi’s allegations saying he was preaching tribalism instead of uniting the country.
In his cryptic message, the Kikuyu Member of Parliament dismissed Rigathi’s allegations and instead urged him to join alternative WhatsApp groups such as the Chepsaita WhatsApp group which he claimed was open to all and sundry.
“I am urging all those lamenting that they have been removed from WhatsApp groups, let them join us in the Chepsaita WhatsApp group,” he said.
Currently, Rigathi is shuttling from one interview to another trying to salvage and endear himself to the President and the public as the clock ticks. He has traversed the Mountain and Nairobi and has developed a slogan usiguze murima.
Rigathi is also staring at his ally’s destiny with the court after they were accused of being behind the recent Gen Zees demonstrations that rocked the nation and forced the withdrawal of the contentious finance bill.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) sought to have current and former MPs allied to the DP and a number of his staff charged over June anti-government protests.
In a letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), DCI’s Abdalla Komesha stated that their investigations revealed that Embakasi North MP James Gakuya and Embakasi Central MP Benjamin Gathiru MejjaDonk had a hand in the demonstrations.
Others implicated in the case include former Embakasi West MP George Theuri, former Nyeri Town MP Wambugu Ngunjiri, and Mr. Gachagua’s private secretary Pius Munene.
“The Director, Directorate of Criminal Investigations, received intelligence reports of planning, mobilizing and financing of violent protests that were witnessed in the country on 25th June and subsequent days where Benjamin Gathiru Mwangi and James Gakuya among others were implicated following several meetings that took place at Hotel Boulevard within Nairobi,” the letter dated September 24 reads in part.
Rigathi alleged that President Ruto and Cabinet secretaries close to the president were using DCI and the office of the DPP to haunt him out of government.
“The use of the criminal justice system to manage politics is an outdated political strategy used in the past. I am embarrassed that we are back to where we were. Harassment of my Office staff and Members of Parliament perceived to be close to me, has been going on for the last two months,” Rigathi said.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) has approved the prosecution of the suspects.
As a trapped man, attempts by Rigathi allies to have the court stop the National Assembly from discussing the impeachment failed miserably.
“Upon careful perusal, the DPP has directed that there is sufficient evidence to charge the suspects with the offense of conspiracy to commit felony contrary to section 393 of the Penal code,” read the statement.
And today, the Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetangula will notify the MPs at the plenary of receiving a motion seeking the removal of the deputy president from office by impeachment.
But Rigathi has said he was ready for his impeachment and will not resign and that he will defend himself.
